Star Wars with occasional sarcasm

Tag Archives: deaths (fictional)

It is with a great deal of sadness and tears that I must report that our dear friend, author Aaron Allston, passed away Thursday.

Aaron was, as Timothy Zahn describes him, “a wonderful author, a devastating punster, an erudite teacher, and — most of all — a wonderful friend.”

For Star Wars fans, Aaron is perhaps best known for his many books in the X-Wing, New Jedi Order, Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi series. His other books include Doc Sidhe, and he had recently self-published Plotting: A Novelist’s Workout Guide. He also conducted writing seminars at conventions such as Celebration, Origins and Dragon*Con, often in tandem with fellow author Mike Stackpole.

I don’t think there’s much I need to say about his writing to this crowd: It’s a rarity, but it seems like pretty much everyone loved Aaron’s books, Star Wars and otherwise.

I meet Aaron in the JadeCon suite one year, when GenCon was still in Milwaukee – it must have been the late 90′s. I was one of only a handful of people in the suite, and I was a bit nervous, because speaking to authors, or celebs of any kind, has never been my forte. But talking to Aaron was easy. He was personable, he was hilarious, he instantly made one feel at ease. Even if you had just met him, he treated you like a friend. He would have been an instant favorite of Club Jade even if he hadn’t written books we loved.

No matter what one thinks of the Expanded Universe, Aaron was a great asset to Star Wars and the fandom. Club Jade is honored to have known him, his work, and to have had him as our first and only Emperor.

Even author R.A. Salvatore, who got a lot of grief for Vector Prime and the event contained within, joined and posted. Even more shocking, the responses are very polite so far! Aww, fandom. Learn and grow. (Hattip to Austin.)

Upcoming. StarWars.com has a look at some of DK’s 2011 offerings, including Secrets of the Jedi, which sounds like a kid’s version of The Jedi Path. Also up are the December 2010 comics, including Knight Errant #3 and Legacy: War #1.

In the summer of 2000, there was a special event held at GenCon (back when there was just one, and it was in Milwaukee) that will likely live on in convention and Club Jade infamy for generations. The previous fall, Del Rey had taken the reigns of the Star Wars novel line and started things off by killing Chewbacca. Club Jade, in turn, held a funeral and wake for the mighty wookiee at GenCon, complete with a processional bearing his coffin marching through the Hyatt led by a bagpiper tooting Amazing Grace. The Normals were stunned, I tell you.

At the following wake was held a filking tribute to Chewie, a contest where victory was claimed by Carla Lute with her Dixie Chicks filk, “Chewie Had to Die”.